


Ready, Aim, Fire

by Scarlet_Ribbons



Series: Omega Rights 'Verse [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alpha Jensen, Crying, Equal partners, Fluff and Angst, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Jared Padalecki, Law stuff, M/M, Mated Life, Omega Jared, Shooting, True Love, a/o/b dynamics, omega rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:19:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4766420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Ribbons/pseuds/Scarlet_Ribbons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen thinks his biggest problem so far is that Jared, after their recent mating, doesn't seem to want to have sex with him. In fact, he isn't sure if Jared really even 'loves' him so much as it is a matter of being polite.</p><p>He soon realizes that that doesn't come even close to his list of biggest problems when Jared, who happens to be a lawyer for controversial Omega rights, is shot during his night walk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ready, Aim, Fire

"This is the third time Jared has rejected me since we knotted." Jensen kept his voice down as he glowered at the papers in his hand, his eyes flickering to the open door to the kitchen where soft humming resounded. Jared was trying to make something he called a  _tetrazzini..._ Jensen was more than a little afraid. "I don't know what he wants from me... You'd think that Jared would be  _happy,_ thanks to he court ruling, but he's still agitated. I don't know if he even really considers me his mate."

"Well, so let him settle down!" Christian Kane sounded irritated, and quite like he didn't want to be dealing with Jensen's mating affairs now... Or rather, ever. "You can't expect the guy to hop in bed and wiggle his ass for you... Or hadn't you noticed that your mate is Jared Padalecki?"

"But I want  _sex,"_ Jensen whined petulantly, aware that he sounded like a cranky five year old. Well... A very  _precocious_ five year old. "We're supposed to have intercourse a  _lot,_ but Jared doesn't even want to get into the bed! He's constantly glued to the TV sets, organizing protests, orating at the nearest halls or open streets... I just wish he'd take a break. Or maybe he's just repulsed by me." Okay, so yeah, Jared running around  _all the time_ was kind of annoying, but more than that, Jensen was worried that his Omega was overworking himself. 

"Are you seriously- Dude, shut up! I don't want to hear about your lack of sex!" 

" _Chriisssss,"_ Jensen groaned, his voice going raspy and harsh, then noticed Jared was standing in the doorway, curling a silky lock of chestnut hair around a deft index finger, asking to come in with a cock of his head. Awkward. "I, uh. Gotta go. Call you back later." He hung up on his irate friend and swiveled the chair around to face Jared, because that always made him feel like a villain from, like, a Bond movie. "Heya, Jay."

"The tetrazzini is done," Jared said, his voice calm and resonant as always. He gestured behind him to the table. "Are you finished with work?"

Jared never let Jensen eat alone. They either ate together at around 6:00, or Jared waited for Jensen to finish his work, which left them eating dinner at 11:00, sometimes even midnight. Jensen had expressed his reluctance to push their dinner that far into the night, but Jared wouldn't have it. 

"Everything we do, we do together." he'd said. And that was that. Not that Jensen minded; he'd gone through so many dinners alone that a consistent partner was enjoyable, to say the least. Jared was entertaining and funny, not to mention clever as hell. He wasn't flighty, always with a strong opinion, and a walking newscast. 

"This is good," Jensen said cautiously as he bit into the noodles, and Jared's eyebrows drew together.

"Thank you." Dimples flashed at Jensen before Jared lapsed into thoughtfulness again. "I think it's lacking something, though. Spice, maybe?"

Jensen couldn't fault it, so he changed the subject. "How was your day? Work?"

Jared was a defense lawyer for the Omega Care Association, and damned if he wasn't excellent at his job; this pretty much guaranteed that they didn't see each other at the very least until 5:00 in the evening, especially since Jensen, as CEO of Xenoxa Tech, was usually so flooded by paperwork that he didn't even dream of breathing until then.

"Fine," Jared said, sighing as he paused in the middle of a cut. It pretty much told Jensen everything was not, in fact, fine. "There was a motion to sue after an Omega ran away from her Alpha, and one of the employees turned out to have been housing her. Now the Alpha wants the Omega sued and returned, like she's some sort of possession."

"If she ran away," Jensen pointed out, swallowing, "She shouldn't go back. Especially if there was some sort of reasoning behind the running away."

Jared's chin dipped as he nodded. "Yes, well, the Alpha- he's filthy rich and the OCA doesn't want to get too deeply tangled. The equality clause has just gone into effect, but there's apparently some sort of grace period where everyone's holding their breath. The Alpha could possibly drain the OCA's funds and win favor by babbling some nonsense about how they're mates, lovers, whatever."

Jensen's muscles tightened, his blood responding to Jared's emotion; his mate was agitated.

"Baby steps, Jared," he reminded gently, setting his fork down. "There's only so much you can expect."

Jared wilted. "I know."

"What are your options?"

"Well, I was thinking," Jared chased the noodles around on his plate. "Maybe we could fight anyway."

Of course he was. "I don't want you to get hurt," Jensen said truthfully.

Jared gazed at him with something Jensen hoped was fondness. "I have to take risks, Jen." He said, not unkindly. "Or nothing will ever progress." 

Jensen resisted the urge to be petulant on the matter and shoveled more noodles into his mouth. "Just remember your scapegoat position, Jared," he warned his mate, setting the silverware down and surveying Jared across the table. "If they need someone to blame, they're going to pick on you. You've been the loudest voice for the cause yet, so you have to be on your toes."

Jared smiled, then, the little divots in his cheeks melting Jensen's trying-really-hard-to-be-stern exterior. "Well, then, it's a good thing I've got my mate to back me up, right?"

"Damn right," Jensen lifted his glass in a toast before settling back against his seat to sip at it thoughtfully. "You know what? Go for it."

"What do you mean?"

"Take him to court. If I had to bet, I'd bet on you, Jay." He said with no small amount of confidence. "I've seen you on the stand, and it's nothing but impressive. So I say take that asshole to court and beat 'im." He stood from his seat, only to be dwarfed by Jared's excited hug and rewarded with several subsequent kisses.

"I knew you'd back me up, Jen." Jared looked so delighted that it was almost impossible not to smile back. It wasn't often that Jared's calm composure cracked, and even when it had it had been somewhat negative- after all, fighting for rights was laborious and at times infuriating -but to see him so childlike with enthusiasm made Jensen really feel like he was Jared's mate. 

He kissed the shell of Jared's ear, and then his nose. "For God's sake, be careful, Jared."

"I'm sure God won't mind me doing it for your sake too, Jensen." Jared teased, sharp as always, and Jensen smirked before pulling away.

"Yeah, you'd better not leave me with all that leftover food." His expression changed dramatically into one of terror. "Oh, the horror of leftovers."

"My food is delicious," Jared protested, smiling a little, and Jensen arched his eyebrows sharply.

" _Some_ of your food is delicious. The rest of it..." He gave the other man a questionable look.

"Oh, shut up." Jared rolled his eyes playfully; they were gorgeous eyes, speckled with blues and greens and woven through with hazel and gold. Now, under the chandelier, they seemed to have settled on glittering copper. 

"Go to bed, sweetheart." Jensen said abruptly, turning the handle to his office again and pointing at him. "You've got a long day ahead of you, especially if you're going to make your position. You're going to need all eight hours of rest."

Jared's expression dawned with reluctance. "But I haven't watched the news reports, or-" 

"Jared." Jensen turned to face him fully, keeping his tone even and trying not to dip into Alpha mode. Jaredlistened to him most of the time, unless he felt like Jensen's decision wasn't the right one, and had expressed subtle distaste for the forceful, dreaded "Alpha voice"; Jensen tried to steer clear of it if he didn't need to use it. "You're at your best when you're well-rested."

"Are you coming?" Jared turned from the stairs, and Jensen cast a longing glance at his willowy form hesitating beside the stairwell. Jared's hair was down, mussed from him constantly running his fingers through it, and he looked casually gorgeous in his sweatpants and t-shirt. But Jensen had work to finish, and it wasn't like Jared was actually going to have sex with him, so. 

"Nah, but I'll be up in about half an hour," he assured. "You go ahead."

Jared nodded, stepped forward to kiss Jensen's forehead lightly. It was another consistency- Jared always bestowing some token of affection on Jensen before they went to bed. A kiss, a brush of his fingers against his shoulder, a warm, fleeting smile. Jensen had no idea why, but it grounded him. Made him feel secure, in a way. Which was kind of weird, seeing as he'd grown up around other Alphas constantly telling him that he had to protect his Beta or Omega, but not unpleasant. Even if it seemed a little detached.

"Good night, Jen." Jared smiled before ascending the staircase.

"Night, Jay." Jensen murmured to his retreating form before heading for the office and staring blankly at his computer for a few moments. 

It was clearly time to call and pester Chris again. 

\---

"This is the most frustrating thing I've ever done in my life." Jared said when he came home the next day, his calm façade betraying nothing. But considering his mate was a Brown graduate who'd endured the trials of law school, this was clearly a big deal. 

Jensen looked up from the sandwiches he was crafting and turned to face Jared, who was staring blankly at his case files.

"What's up?" He inquired, patting his hands dry and moving in close to Jared. He may not have known all the fancy law jargon, but he'd been through his fair share of lawsuits, and a cursory glance through the material supplied him with what he needed to know.

"It's the Alpha, Jen." Jared said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "I don't know if I'm just massively lucky to have you, but if every Alpha is like this man, there's no hope in the world."

Jensen soothingly rubbed circles between Jared's shoulder blades and tried not to feel overly flattered at Jared's subtle praise.  

"He's bigoted and cruel," Jared continued, the dip of his shoulders indicating just how upset this had made him. Jensen's stomach flipped. "He threw money at three of the lawyers on board until they resigned from the case."

"Well, there's still you and two others, right?" Personally, Jensen felt as though Jared could take on the Alpha on his own and win, but... If Jared wanted the stability, that was his decision.

"I don't know," Jared said, tone a little clipped and (making Jensen feel even more hatred towards the unnamed Alpha) a little sad. "He threatened the rest of us- he said such awful things that he reduced the new intern, Alona, to tears. And she's fantastic, Jen." 

Okay, well, now Jensen was pissed. "He did  _what_? What did he say?" He demanded, and Jared's fingers wrapped gently around his elbow. 

"Just the usual." Jared  _hmphed_ dismissively, all too dismissively for Jensen's comfort, and moved away from him again. "Gave me crap about being an Omega whore, yada yada." He waved his hand. "Didn't stop me from making a strong case against him by the end of the day, but putting up with his idiotic bombast gave me a headache."

Jensen rested a hand against his mate's. "Christ sake, Jared. You're going to give me a heart attack."

Jared's fingers wove through his. "I'm just glad to have made him actually scared about this, Jensen. I want to beat him more than anything, and I'm not going to give up until I've tried. With every ounce that I have," he added, looking for all the world as if a mountain wouldn't have moved him. Jensen heaved a sigh, trying to hold back the concern, and briefly nodded. He'd known as much, after all.

"I'm taking care of dinner today," he said instead as Jared studied the papers in front of him. "You can relax."

"I'm going to go for a short walk," Jared declared, unknotting his tie and glancing out the window at the sloping sidewalks outside. Jensen's eyes flickered towards the rapidly darkening sky before darting back to Jared. He didn't want to admit his concern, because he was afraid Jared would think he was being overbearing; he settled instead for a nod. "Do you want to come?"

"I gotta keep an eye on these." Jensen sighed, jerking his thumb towards the sandwiches and watching as Jared shucked his form-fitting slacks and button-down and exchanged them for something more comfortable. "Be careful, yeah? It's dark." 

"You know I always am," Jared returned with a grin, kissing the spot just beneath Jensen's ear. "This'll help me get my thoughts in order," he added as his wrist flicked to crack the door open. "Something that I picked up from you, I might add." 

Jensen lifted an eyebrow at his mate, smiling a little when the door closed with a quiet  _snick._ Little things made Jared so charming that it was hard not to feel like the luckiest Alpha- and man in general -alive.

\--- 

Jared hadn't been back for two and a half hours.

Jensen didn't want to go looking for him, because Jared would probably just wrinkle his nose the way he did when he saw Alphas being "entirely too overbearing." But this... This didn't count, did it? It had been an unusually long time, after all, and Jared had said  _a short walk._ Also, Jared knew his way around the entire neighborhood well enough to navigate even in the dark. 

He stared at the clock, alternating between looking at it and the soggy sandwiches so he didn't burst from the nerves piling up in his stomach. He couldn't rid himself of the feeling of unease, and the feeling only intensified when he tried to call Jared and was redirected to his voicemail.

Okay, he needed to find his mate. It wasn't like Jared to pull something unpredictable like this, and even less like Jared to not respond to a call. He had just started to pull on his coat when the doorbell rang.

" _Jared,_ thank  _fuck._  God, why didn't you answer your phone?" Jensen breathed, his words coming out in an outpour, not even bothering to censor himself as he squinted, relieved, at Jared's tall form on the doorstep. Or, at least, he was feeling pretty relieved, until Jared teetered forward, into the light.

And then Jensen got a full view of Jared's paper-white pallor, even as his mate grinned weakly at him and all but crumpled into his automatically waiting arms.

"Jared, what the-?" Jensen began, alarmed, his stomach doing a violent flip when he felt liquid that was  _clearly unnatural_ trickle over his hands. "Holy fuck, Jared, holy  _fuck,"_ he babbled, hauling Jared up straight so he could see the bullet wound in his shoulder, the one he had seen coming from a mile away.  

"S-Sorry," Jared groaned with a tiny smile, the moron, and pressed into Jensen even as Jensen scrabbled to call 911. After the ambulance instructed him to keep Jared elevated until they arrived, he swung back towards Jared to see him still choking up words. "C-Came out of n-nowhere."

"And you didn't fucking  _call 911?"_ Jensen demanded, his voice verging on a furious shout as he stalked to Jared's side in two steps. The fact that Jared had taken enough time to tie a length from his shirt and shove it up against the wound instead of calling the ambulance absolutely  _nauseated_  him. "Are you out of your  _MIND?"_

"Phone died," Jared muttered as if that excused him from anything at all. Jensen fucking  _growled,_ his fingers shaking a little as they unwound the sloppy, makeshift bandage from Jared's skin.

"Who the fuck did this to you?  _Who did this?"_ He snarled, and was it just him, or was Jared getting a little blurry? "I'm going to-"

"Jensen," Jared said, as unruffled as always, "It's a shoulder wound. I'm going to be okay." He was still. Fucking. Smiling. Jensen shook his head, his head hanging as if the strings holding it up had been snipped, and fisted his hands into his Omega's shirt. 

" _No,"_ he rasped out, the soft fabric rubbing along his knuckles as gentle as Jared's touch. "It's not fucking okay, Jared, it's  _not. Not- You_  don't get it," he added, his throat somehow feeling as though it had been flayed raw, "You're not the one whose mate, whose-- whose mate runs off and does crazy, dangerous things, you're not-" he drew in a ragged gasp, " _I told you to be careful."_

Jared's fingers swept along his eyes, and Jensen was even more mortified to discover that his fingertips came away wet with something entirely different from blood. Jared sighed, long and slow to fight the obvious pain, and smiled with open fondness, something Jensen could see even though his eyes were more or less swimming with visible effort.

"No," Jared agreed. "I'm not. I'm the one whose mate is progressive enough to let me do those crazy, dangerous things. The one who's got the most supportive mate in the universe. I'm the  _lucky_ one." Jared said, his lips warm and dry against Jensen's temple. "And I'm going to be okay, so you don't have to cry."

"I'm not, you moron," Jensen immediately protested, taking in rapid, shaky breaths to counteract the balloon of affection and  _love_  welling up in his chest. "W-Walking home after g-getting shot- You p-pull something like this again, and I'll- I'll-"

"You'll?" Jared's lips tugged upwards with obvious effort.

"It'll be bad when I figure it out." Jensen warned, his words watery as he cupped Jared's drooping head. "Now shut up, I can tell that it hurts to talk. Just nod yes or no for me; the ambulance is almost here." He assured, wrapping his fingers into Jared's clammy ones, almost faltering at each shallow breath his mate was taking. "Did you see your shooter?"

Jared's breath hitched as he gingerly shook his head into Jensen's palm. 

"But you have a feeling you might know who it is." 

Jared nodded this time, breaths coming out in warm puffs of air as he glanced up at Jensen through thin eyelashes. Jensen trembled a little beneath him; Jared's intuition was  _hardly_ everwrong, and if Jared had a good idea of who had tried to hurt him, well, Jensen was fairly certain that Jared was spot on.

Jensen didn't waste words. 

"Can I kill him?"

Jared huffed into his hand in a very obvious  _no, you may not, Jensen. Don't be a barbarian_ sort of way. But the next moment, when Jensen leafed a few fingers through his hair, he nuzzled into the touch lightly, his mask finally cracking to reveal a brief burst of intense pain, a momentary weakness before he smoothed over again. Jensen figured his heart may very well have burst at any second, so it was probably a very good thing when the paramedics arrived to take Jared to the hospital.

\---

"Jensen, for the millionth time." Jared said, turning to placate his fussing mate with a quick breath and two hands steadying his face, "I'm going to be okay. And you're going to be right here. And seriously, you may not know so, but you're kind of terrifying."

"I'd better damn well be," Jensen growled like a riled pitbull, messing with his cufflinks as he averted his gaze from Jared's all-too-knowing one. "I'm going to have to watch you face off with the guy who ordered someone  _else_ to shoot you. Probably because he was too much of a little coward to do it himself. 

Jared shook his head, smiling, and leaned forward to smush their mouths together in a move strangely unbefitting of him. Jensen's mouth fell open a little in surprise, but he quickly melted into the uncommon gesture of affection without much hesitation. 

Jared pulled himself away as Jensen's fingers brushed along his thick bandages and grinned again. "I love you." The words were sweet; Jared's smile was sweeter. 

Jensen swallowed, his throat suddenly dry again. "Knock 'em dead, Jay." He said gruffly, a little pink-cheeked, and so sue him if he meant it a little bit literally. 

He received a nod before they entered the courtroom, and took a reluctant seat close to the stand. After shooting Alpha Assface a dark glower, he sat down and fixated his sight on the much more pleasant sight that was one Jared Padalecki. The Alpha spared Jensen a half-indignant, half-fearful look, before fixing his piggy eyes back onto Jared. Jensen was vindictively pleased to see that beads of sweat were rolling down his neck and disappearing into his stuffy collar.

Good. 

By the time they were halfway through the proceedings, Jensen was starting to realize why Jared was considered a prodigy in the verse of the law. Most of the time, there was just explanation and outlining, and the only thing Jensen could keep track of was the cross-examining. When it came to Jared's questioning of the Alpha's witness, he absolutely shredded the man with sharp questions that all but tore the other man's confidence into nothing. Jensen resisted cheering, alternating between holding his breath and wondering when he'd started thinking that Jared prowling back and forth in front of a shivering witness was hot.

The Alpha had a blustering argument about how the Omega was his property, how the employee had erred, how Alphas in general had to exercise control, but Jared countered it with the recently enacted law, and it finally boiled down to the judge and jury. 

It had been going so well that Jensen was fairly certain of Jared's victory, but Jared didn't look quite as excited as Jensen had hoped. True, Jared rarely expressed ecstasy, but he looked downright burned out. Jensen was on the edge of his seat, trying to meet his mate's eyes as his heart started to do uncertain flips; somehow, he had this feeling that this wasn't going to the end the way he hoped it was.

The slamming of the gavel into the wood sounded like a death sentence, and that was even without the judge's booming "The court finds the accused, Omega Juliet Snow, guilty!" resounding through the arching room.

\---

Jensen knew it was obviously a biased jury, that the Alpha had manipulated them full of Alphas who thought the same way that he did, but he didn't care as much about that as he did about the fact that he couldn't seem to get through to Jared.

His mate's expression was completely blank, had been ever since he'd held onto Juliet's wrists. He'd had to listen to the poor girl sobbing, had to hear her saying thank you into his shirt, and had to watch as the Alpha all but ripped her away. Jensen's driving was interrupted with frequent, worried glances at his silent, distraught mate, and nothing he was saying seemed to break the shell.

"Jay? You know it wasn't your fault, right?" he started, his tone warm and coaxing as they entered the house, but Jared just pushed his fingertips up against Jensen's hip as if trying to assure himself of something, and made his way up the stairs soundlessly.

Jensen watched him go morosely, slipping off his shoes before ascending after his mate. He wasn't all that surprised when he found Jared curled up on his side with his head tucked into his knees, and his heart broke when he sucked in a deep breath and found the air tinged with salt. 

"Oh, Jay." he said, tossing off the tie and coat and crawling into the bed. "Baby, it wasn't your fault."

"She was thanking me," Jared only just managed, his breaths long and shuddering. Jensen collected his significantly taller Omega's limbs into his lap and bent just a little to press his nose into his hair, his arms wrapping tight around Jared. "I s-sent her back to that asshole, and she  _thanked me."_

Jensen should have fucking known. He knew how long Jared had been practicing for this; Hell, he'd taken a bullet for the cause, and this was what he got for his trouble. He should have known that Jared was just human after it all, that it wasn't fair to expect him to do this all on his own. He should have known that even people like Jared, strong, beautiful, level-headed people, fell prey to failure, no matter how  _right_ they were. 

"What do I have to do, Jen?" Jared struggled for air, his eyes welling up as he looked up at Jensen. " _What do I have to do to get through to them?"_  He looked for all the world like the universe was crushing him, like it was collapsing right there on his shoulders, and Jensen needed to get the fuck in there to hold it up with him.

"You have to do what every rights group does, Jared." Jensen said firmly, "and sue the shit out of them."

Jared emitted a cough-gasp-sob combination; it sounded an awful lot like defeat, and it made Jensen's stomach twist hollowly. 

"Jared." Jensen pressed his mate into the headboard gently, trying to force Jared's eyes onto his. He leaned forward a little to nip one of the tear tracks, kissing his way along Jared's skin until Jared finally dragged his tearing eyes upwards. "This isn't the end." He whispered, dropping his hands so he could wrap both of Jared's in them. "You're a law student. Tell me how many times you have to sue before you make them notice. You've read up on this.  _Tell me_   _how_  you're going to win at  _least_ one of them."

Jared's breath sounded ragged and hurt. "But Juliet-"

"-Is a fighter," Jensen said truthfully. "Jared, I watched that girl. She never faltered, not even once. And did you notice that she wasn't blaming you? She was saying thank you, Jared. She's going to get back onto her feet, and I  _know you know that._ The question is,  _are you?"_

Jared inhaled sharply at that, his tremors finally coming to a stop. He stared at Jensen for a moment before nodding, his next intake of breath longer and calmer. "Y-You're right," he said after a beat of silence, obviously trying frantically to recompose himself. Jensen shook his head, pressing tighter into his mate.

"You don't have to act, Jay," he murmured, kissing the shell of Jared's ear. "Not tonight. You just have to be yourself, get it all out, and then give it your all tomorrow. Don't worry about keeping that calm, pretty face on-- I can see right through it." He said warmly, smiling when Jared curled gratefully into him.

"I love you, Jensen." Jared said, not quietly, but unobstructed and firm and devoted. How had Jensen ever doubted this?

Jared hardly wavered. He was brilliant and brave and gorgeous, but he was also perfectly fallible. The thing was, he didn't have to be fallible on his own; Jensen was going to be right there the whole damn time, helping him up when he did stumble. And that wasn't an Alpha and Omega thing, that was a Jared and Jensen thing. That's what they were to each other. And damned if Jensen wasn't going to see this every step of the way, right down to the retribution that asshole was going to get for getting his mate shot. 

So he said, "I love you too, Jared," and fell asleep to Jared's sprawling legs thrown over his and his head tucked into the crook of his shoulder. 

And a month later, he was driving an ecstatic Jared to the courthouse when Juliet Snow's case was overturned. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I have like, two more story ideas for this 'verse, but I really want to hear what you guys think. The next one will probably be their first role-reversing, so. I'm kinda excited, even though I'm a HUGE bottom!Jared fan. Like, seriously, it's weird stepping out of my comfort zone.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for all the great comments on the first part!


End file.
